Quakers complete championship weekend with win over Anderson

Stirling named MVP

|Box Score|

November 19, 2005

Eric Stirling

ANDERSON, Indiana — Tournament MVP Eric Stirling scored at the buzzer to lift Wilmington College to a 50-49 win over Anderson University in the championship game of the Anders

on Classic Saturday.

For Wilmington (2-0), the win was more a result of effort than efficiency. The Quakers struggled early at the offensive end, scoring just 15 first-half points.

"It was crazy. The biggest thing that we did was play hard, but if you play hard, good things will happen for us," WC coach Scott Reule said. "We were taking bad shots. We were shooting 23-foot, 24-foot three-pointers guarded because they were playing a 1-2-2 matchup. Our guys just weren¹t making things happen."

The Quakers erased an eight-point deficit by scoring nine straight points to open the second half. Stirling (Brooklyn, N.Y./LaSalle Academy) and Nick Berter (Cincinnati/Reading) made layups, followed by a Josh Rohrbacher (Columbus/Beechcroft) three-pointer. Justin Gaines¹ (Columbus/Africentric) penetration move ended at the rim, giving WC a 24-23 lead at 15:47.

For the remainder of the game, the lead changed hands 14 times, with each team¹s biggest lead reaching three points. After a dismal 19 percent first-half performance from the field, the Quakers connected on 53 percent (14-of-26) of their second-half field goal attempts, and hit seven-of-13 from beyond the arc. Rohrbacher and Zach Broermann (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County) hit a pair of treys each, and Stirling, Josh Walters (Cincinnati/Elder) and Gaines added three-pointers.

"Our biggest change was we put the ball on the floor, made them help, and then pitched it and got threes from 19-feet, nine inches instead of 23-feet. When we shoot from 19-9 we¹ll make them; when we shoot from 23 we won¹t," Reule said.

The game came down to the final eight seconds, with Wilmington trailing 49-48 and Stirling ready to save the day.

"Zach Broermann came off a ball screen, kind of hesitated, and tried to go by, and when he did he slipped to one knee," Reule said. "Eric made a hard cut to the ball. Zach hit Eric; he went baseline and scored."

The Quakers turned in another solid defensive effort, holding 6-9 freshman Nick Rogers and J.D. Clampitt to 10 and seven points, respectively. The frontcourt duo combined for 53 points in the Ravens¹ 99-95 win over Thomas More Friday.

"Nick Rogers is amazing. He¹s very hard to hold," Reule said. "But as good players as he and Clampitt are, we held them down. I told the guys if we play defense and work hard, good things are going to happen for us."

Stirling led all scorers with 12 points. Rohrbacher, who was named to the all-tournament team, scored nine for WC, and Broermann added six. The Quakers¹ bench, which outscored Defiance¹s non-starters 22-0 Friday, outscored their Anderson counterparts 19-8. Gaines and Sam Lahmers ( scored seven points each in strong efforts off the WC bench. Reule also praised the solid play of Walters, who scored three points and handed out a team-high four assists.

"I think we grew up big-time this weekend," Reule said. "Defiance and Anderson are both picked to finish low in their leagues, but they are good teams. Like we¹ve said from the beginning, for us to get better you¹ve got to get confidence, and you¹re going to get confidence by winning basketball games and feeling like you¹re good."